day, a grand procession in Sweden, known as the May Ride, in which a
flower-decked May king (Odin) pelted with blossoms the fur-enveloped
Winter (his supplanter), until he put him to ignominious flight. In
England also the first of May was celebrated as a festive occasion,
in which May-pole dances, May queens, Maid Marian, and Jack in the
Green played prominent parts.

As personification of heaven, Odin, of course, was the lover and spouse
of the earth, and as to them the earth bore a threefold aspect, the
Northmen depicted him as a polygamist, and allotted to him several
wives. The first among these was Joerd (Erda), the primitive earth,
daughter of Night or of the giantess Fiorgyn. She bore him his
famous son Thor, the god of thunder. The second and principal wife
was Frigga, a personification of the civilised world. She gave him
Balder, the gentle god of spring, Hermod, and, according to some
authorities, Tyr. The third wife was Rinda, a personification of the
hard and frozen earth, who reluctantly yields to his warm embrace,
but finally gives birth to Vali, the emblem of vegetation.

Odin is also said to have married Saga or Laga, the goddess of history
(hence our verb "to say"), and to have daily visited her in the crystal
hall of Sokvabek, beneath a cool, ever-flowing river, to drink its
waters and listen to her songs about olden times and vanished races.

"Sokvabek hight the fourth dwelling;
Over it flow the cool billows;
Glad drink there Odin and Saga
Every day from golden cups."

Norse Mythology (R. B. Anderson).

His other wives were Grid, the mother of Vidar; Gunlod, the mother
of Bragi; Skadi; and the nine giantesses who simultaneously bore
Heimdall--all of whom play more or less important parts in the various
myths of the North.

The Historical Odin

Besides this ancient Odin, there was a more modern, semi-historical
personage of the same name, to whom all the virtues, powers, and
adventures of his predecessor have been attributed. He was the
chief of the AEsir, inhabitants of Asia Minor, who, sore pressed by
the Romans, and threatened with destruction or slavery, left their
native land about 70 B.C., and migrated into Europe. This Odin is
said to have conquered Russia, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden,
leaving a son on the throne of each conquered country. He also built
the town of Odensoe. He was welcomed in Sweden by Gylfi, the king,
who gave him a share